Many types of furniture are upholstered, or covered with fabric and/or padding, to improve the aesthetics and comfort of the furniture. Certain types of furniture, such as the chairs typically used in restaurants and convention halls, include a board or a rigid element, such as a chair back, with a layer of foam and fabric attached to one or more sides. One typical design also includes an extruded piece of resilient edging that covers the perimeter edge of the chair back so as to provide a rounded resilient edge for the chair back. The front and/or back of the chair back is upholstered with the upholstery partially covering the edging. The upholstery is attached such that it covers the front and/or rear face of the rigid element or board with the edging defining the perimeter edge.
Various approaches are used for upholstery of such a chair. FIG. 4 shows one approach in which a chair element, such as a rigid board 10, has resilient edging 12 attached to the perimeter edge of the board 10. The resilient edging 12 has sides 14 that extend downwardly onto the face of the board and are attached thereto with a fastener, such as staple 16. A rigid element, such a piece of hardboard 18, has an overall shape similar to, but slightly smaller than, the board 10. A layer of foam 20 and upholstery material 22 is attached to the hardboard 18. A piece of welt 24 is typically attached to the edge of the upholstery material 22. The hardboard 18 is attached to the board 10, such as by using Christmas tree style fasteners 26 engaging holes 28, to interconnect the upholstered hardboard to the board 10. This results in upholstery covering one or both sides of the chair element, thereby resulting in an upholstered chair element, such as a chair back. This approach to upholstery provides a pleasing aesthetic appearance but may be labor and/or material intensive.
Another approach is shown in FIG. 5. This approach is similar to the approach shown in FIG. 4 in that a piece of resilient edging 12 is received on the edge of a board 10 and connected thereto. However, in this approach, the upholstery is connected directly to the board 10 rather than being first connected to a support element such as hardboard 18. As shown, a layer of foam 20 is covered with upholstery material 22 with a welt 24 attached thereto. The upholstery material 22 and foam 20 are then connected to the board 10 using a fastener, such as staple 27. The staple 27 is passed through the upholstery material 22 adjacent the welt 24 and penetrates a side 14 of the edging 12 so as to engage the board 10 and retain the upholstery material 22 and foam layer 20 in place. This approach eliminates the need for the hardboard 18 shown in FIG. 4, but requires precise placement of the staples 27 and upholstery layer 22. It also tends to compress the foam layer adjacent the edge, which may be aesthetically undesirable.